Soundave, explain the beauty of eMusic again. I may want to investigate it.
eMusic is and has always been DRM free music. It's LAME encoded at bitrates of at least 192 VBR. So, it sounds pretty good for MP3.
They have a free trial, not as much of a deal as it used to be, but not bad. 25 Free DL's, if you cancel, you keep 'em. (When I started it was 40). And if I send you an invite email, I can get some free DL's if you actually end up continuing beyond the free trial period. AFAIK, it starts at $9.99 for 30 songs a month. I'm grandfathered at the same price for 40 songs. And I hijacked my wife's 30 song account...
They have a lot of really great music from all sorts of different genres, most of it "indie music", though not always. "Indie" is their bread and butter. But their metal catalog is constantly growing (some labels: Candlelight, Nuclear Blast, Southern Lord, Relapse, KOCH, Steamhammer/SPV, Earache, Peaceville, etc.), and I often find good non-metal stuff.
Discovering new music on eMusic is way easier and more interesting than on, say, iTunes. There are lists by members and lists by "experts". You can check out your "neighbors" to see what people who've dl'ed stuff similar to you have dl'ed. You can browse by exploring a band's formal connections to other bands, influences, or followers. You can see what top fans of a band also dl. It's a great way to find new music.
Okay, now SadGuru's really gonna think I get paid to do this! Towedwart, if you're interested in signing up, PM me. I'll email the free trial link (so I can get free dl's).
Check out their info here:
http://www.emusic.com/promo/why.html
